William’s day at the Paralympics

The most fascinating thing about our early morning train journey down to the Olympic Park, according to my disabled son William, aged nine, was that “the train had tables!”

I was hoping that this visit was going to inspire him. This is the boy who came last on sports day. This is the boy who nobody wanted to pick for their team.

His big sister Joanna, 15, and I hung on to Will for dear life as we made our way from Stratford station with thousands of others to take our seats at the stadium.

It wasn’t long before Will attracted a fair bit of attention with his wonderful enthusiastic cheering, yelling, clapping and flag waving. He’d certainly already won a medal in packed-lunch eating!

By the end of our session we’d seen field heats of discus, long jump, hammer throw, and shot-put as well as track wheelchair races and running – the highlight being GB’s Richard Whitehead winning the gold medal in the 200 metres.

As the Union Jack was raised to the National Anthem, Will yelled at the top of his voice: “I know this one everyone!”

The hours had flown by (so much so there’d not even been a trip to the toilet!) and the volunteer games-makers were truly fabulous.

After a glorious day out we made our way back to the train ‘with tables’. I asked William whether he thought he’d like to try any of the new sports he’d seen, and he said simply: “I think I’d like to try that one where you throw yourself in a sandpit!”